After I wrote last time's message, the weather started to behave more normal (for the time of the year): first it was like spring and after a few days it even was summer here! It was warm and sunny. So we spent a lot of time in the garden, for the weeds wanted to show me something after my criticism: it grew even faster than before in these temperatures. So we weeded till we had blisters on our hands and sweat on our backs. And still, for the moment, the weeds win... Our garden is too big.

We weren't often at home. We started with visiting DD to see their new home now it is lived in. They moved a few days before we came. We could sit outside on their new patio and had a great day. We even forgot taking pictures.

A few days later we had a reunion of my old secondary school class. Although I'm not fond of meetings like that I decided to go this time. Unfortunately a number of old classmates had fallen ill or were on holiday or had another reason for not being there, but just over half of them were present.

Here are the nine of us, after dinner. We remarked, that it was exactly fifty years ago when we were all in the same class. It was the best time of all my study-times, although I was at this school for only two years. We continued our conversation like we had kept seeing each other all the time. Glad I went, it was a nice evening.

A day later I was expected at a meeting of wild knitters. In September we'll have the town of Hoorn full of yarn bombs (wild knitting in Dutch) and a big group of creative people has come forward to take part. We admired our progress and talked about new ideas. The enthusiasm and creativity were huge.I had nearly finished my prehistoric wild animal forest. The tree still needs some leaves (picture underneath)

Op het breifront: de mystery sokken zijn af. Ze passen en staan goed.

On the knitting front: the mystery socks are done. They fit and look good.

While I was clearing away stuff I found a small bag with kid mohair. It was dirty and short. It was very soft. It had to be picked quite well. Combing and carding wasn't an option: all had to be done by hand. Would it be worth doing? Or could I throw it away? It had been there in its bag for a few years. It didn't look very appealing. Still I tried to loosen a few locks and put them in a box.

When there was enough I carefully tried to spin it. Well, that didn't look so bad.

And then suddenly one has a complete skein! After washing it had become nice and white.

My spindle has been revived as well: it has been used a lot the past few days. This is the singles yarn of a full spindle. The yarn weighs almost 50 grams. I'll ply it with yarn that was left on one of my Louet wheel's bobbins. Yes, I really was spring cleaning this week! Things either had to be thrown out or used!

Last Saturday we decided it was time to spend a day in Amsterdam for a change. The weather was nice. The canals were full of little boats which looked lovely. We were sitting on a bench and enjoyed ourselves.

Finally: the spun yarn of last time will be plied with the light green fiber. Although as many people voted for both fibers here as well, I decided to use this, because I don't think I'll like it on its own, whereas the greyish fiber will give a pleasing result. Up till now I haven't spun much of it. The week was just a little bit busy!

We're back home and try to remember that it really is May. It's like autumn: rain, wind and so cold! Even spinning, knitting and activities like that seem not so popular at the moment. I want to be outside. The weather may be autumnlike, but in the garden there is plenty to be done. The weeds don't understand that they should stop growing in this May-autumn. Cycling and walking aren't nice in this weather, too.

So I started spinning. While I was doing some housework (yes: a person has to do something sometimes!) I found some dyed wool that I'd completely forgotten. Part of it I'd already spun on my Louet and I planned to spin the rest on a spindle. I lost practice in spindling, because I hadn't done that for quite a long time. I carded the wool and started spinning the very short wool. That wasn't easy, but gradually it went better and better and I started enjoying it again.

But what do you use to ply such a yarn? I didn't want to ply it on itself, because that seemed to me too busy ans 'spotty'. In the huge bag of fibersurprises I bought from B&F were two more possibilities. Here they are. Last week, when the spingroup met here, I asked the members what they thought I should use. Opinions were almost equally in favour of one and the other. That was some help!

I had just begun knitting in the knitting cafe in Medemblik, when a reporter of the local newspaper came and interviewed us. There were only five of us, because it was spring holiday and many of us have children to look after or go away for a short holiday. A few days later this piece appeared in the newspaper. It is clear we enjoy ourselves there, in the library.

...and a little further on they were still busy taking off the flowers of the tulips. It was on a Saturday and students were home from school. Now they could help: lying on their bellies they cut off the low flowers that the machines had missed.

After a few nice days in April the weather changed back to the usual grey, cold and wet type. We had had enough of that and decided to book a cottage on the campsite in the Provence where we love to be. It was rather unecpected, so for some people my last message here, from the hotel, was a bit enigmatic.

So far an impression of our short stay in France. We've almost een home for a week now! It's also cold here (although less so than in France) and wet, but well, we'll have to take it as it comes. It's the right weather to knit, spin, weave... More about that a next time. I think.